Day #19 - 4/9/16Today I spent 13 hours travelling. you will be no doubt devastated that this post will therefore be reduced to bullet points.
- Getting between Seoul's domestic and international airports is ridiculously intuitive and cheap. Korean public transport and infrastructure is a wonderful thing and I shall miss it very much. - I may or may not have accidentally eaten dog-meat in Seoul airport. Remaining in complete denial about this. - Of course a live orchestra was playing in the departure terminal #becausekorea - I saw Mount Fuji from the plane which was pretty damn epic - Tokyo Narita Airport is working 70s everything-must-be-brown chic to the absolute max. - Tokyo Narita airport is actually nowhere near Tokyo, it's actually in the middle of rice fields 60km away from the city. - Because of this it takes an average 3 hours to get from Tokyo Narita Airport into central Tokyo, even using the Narita Express train. - The Tokyo subway system is a thing of nightmares and follows absolutely no logic whatsoever. - I may have ended up staying with a couchsurfer who is a Jehovas Witness.
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day #17 2/09/16What exactly is a lava tunnel you ask? Well, I too did not know about this phenomenon until visiting Jeju Island. Jeju is home to Manjanggul Cave, a 8928m long lava tube; one of the longest in the world. Manjanggul was about 2 hours on the bus from my hostel and I hoped that it wouldn't be yet another UNESCO disapointment (see the previous post if you don't know what I'm on about). I set off with Julia, the German girl I met at the BBQ the previous night, 2 Argentinan sisters Clara and Cecilia who have been travelling for 2 years and have no intention of stopping and Hsiaochin (none of us ever really figured out how to pronounce this...) a Chinese girl who had come to take advantage of Jeju's duty free shopping. The first part of the adventure to the lava tunnel is the bus ride; our bus driver on this occasion managed to exceed all previous experiences of Korean bus drivers and we had no less than 5 near collisions on our journey. So yes sorry, you are all desperate to discover what a lava tube is. Well...as Wikipedia puts it: it is a "natural conduit formed by flowing lava which moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow". Basically it is a very long cave/tunnel which has wiggly patterns on the walls and floor due to the solidified lava flow (I would have been such an asset to the geological field I know). One of the highlights of the lava tunnel is that as soon as you enter it the temperature drops about 15 degrees. I found myself wearing a fleece in South Korea in the middle of August and it was wonderful. Only about 1km of the cave is actually open to tourists; the size and shape of the tunnel/tube/cave/whatever it is, constantly changes - from small passageways no higher than 2 meters tall to enormous open caverns 30m wide and twice as high. Unfortunately it is near impossible to take decent photos without a very good camera and tripod, having neither of these I have added some photos from google images to give you an idea of what it was like. When I could convince my companions to remain in the cold no longer we left the cave and headed back to Seogwipo, again narrowly surviving our ordeal on the bus. After constant meals of rice, meat and fermented vegetables (or more often, no vegetables at all) we all opted for pizza. The selling point of the particular pizza restaurant we chose was the unlimited salad bar; the staff seemed completely bemused that all of us were more interested in depleting their fresh lettuce stocks rather than order the daily special ''Shrimp Snow Time''. Sadly I have no idea what Shrimp Snow Time pizza consisted of but the photo did little to tempt us into ordering it. (All photos from Google Images)
day #16 - 1/09/16jEju olle trailsAs I mentioned in a previous host Koreans are slightly obsessed with hiking. In 2007 an enterprising ex-journalist - Suh Myung-suk, inspired by a recent trip to the Camino de Santiago, decided to honour this national obsession by creating 21 walking trails all over the island. The word Olle is local dialect for 'garden path'. These trails take you into rural Jeju and far away from the mega hotels and malls. The trails span a range of difficulties and lengths and a few even have wheelchair access. They are easy to find and follow due to bright blue and orange arrows and ribbons which indicate the trail direction (blue=towards the end of the trail, orange=towards the start). At big intersections the trails are indicated by the Olle mascot; a stylised wooden horse. Jeju is very proud of its horses which have been bred on the island since 1276 when Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis) brought 160 horses to the island. The islands geography and climate; particularly it's notably mild winters (compared to the mainland where winters see temperatures of -18C) have been favoured by horse breeders ever since. In addition to breeding for racing stock, horse meat consumption is common on the island, as is "horse oil" which is marketed almost exclusively at the Chinese. Not sure how rubbing liquified horse fat into your face will "Prevent freckles, whiten skin or magically remove wrinkles" but I commend the marketing company who managed to reinvent animal fat as the latest cosmetic must-have. udo islandSeeking some walking and nature I joined Julia on a trip to Udo- a tiny 'cow shaped' [Koreans clearly have an abstract concept on what constitutes a cow] island off the south east coast of Jeju. Udo had been recommended to us both by several people and the hostel manager also enthusiastically encouraged us to go; so we embarked on our 1.5hour bus journey to the ferry port with high expectations. Well Udo, I must say I don't really understand the attraction. Having circumnavigated the island via the 1-1 Olle Trail I can confidently say that Udo is not worth the return ferry ticket. Admittedly the day was overcast which may have tainted our impressions of the place somewhat, but honestly it was just a small, unremarkable island. The few beaches it had, although nice, were crowded and had slightly too much litter to ignore. The main attraction on the island appeared to be the rental of scooters and small vehicles which were like a cross between a golf buggy and a Tuk-tuk, which were ridden around by crazed Chinese tourists who favoured using their available appendages to hold selfie sticks and cameras rather than the handlebars. I was pretty happy when our sweaty walk came to an end and we headed back to Jeju on the ferry. haeneyoOne of the major selling points of Jeju to me as a travel destination was the possibility of seeing haenyeo, or female free divers. These women dive (just holding their breath) all year round into the seas surrounding the island in search of shellfish and other seafood. Because of the presence of haenyeo, Jeju is unique in Korea- here women are the breadwinners of the family and a matriarchal society has developed as a result. It is thought that women have traditionally taken on the role of divers because they are able to spend longer in the cold waters due to increased sub-cutaneous fat compared with men. Sadly haenyeo are dying out; younger people prefer the easier, less physically demanding jobs that tourism has brought to Jeju and now 98% of working haenyeo are over 50. - seriously awesome right? I was beyond excited to stumble across a group of haenyeo sorting through their day's catch on the hill just above one of their preferred diving spots and proceeded to take photos like a crazed One Direction fan-girl until Julia dragged me away. seoNgsan ilchubong PeakOur next stop was Seongsan Ilchubong Peak - which is one of the UNESCO 7 Wonders of the Natural World. This geographical phenomenon, known as 'tuff cone' to those budding geologists out there, was formed by an underwater volcanic eruption; and as you can see it looks rather nice from the air: We paid the entrance fee and proceeded to scale the 180m high peak via a series of increasingly steep steps. Let's just say even before we reached halfway I had discovered the ability to sweat from places I didn't know existed. Our mutual reaction upon reaching the top was that of extreme bemusement and disappointment. Out in front of us stretched what was essentially a green field; I have no idea how Jeju Tourist Board managed to convince UNESCO to award Seongsan Ilchubong with such prestige, but I imagine it required a significant amount of narcotics with a handful of blackmail and a pinch of bribery. In the words of an Argentinan girl we met later that evening in the hostel; "I have seen back gardens more breathtaking". bonus pHoto: |
Who?Med-school graduate, aspiring graphic designer embarking on a quarter-life-crisis expedition to Asia. Archives |